The BGN News Archive

May 26, 2014

After hearing the Dot Rats
material on Bandcamp I wanted to check them out live. They've been playing
a lot of gigs lately and they were at Quincy's South Shore Music Hall
this past Saturday. It's great, it's convenient for me.

The SSMH turned out to be a comparably
large club. It's new, it's clean with plenty of seats and they have green laser
lights on stage with some smoke effects. I would go there all the time if the
gigs were punky but they are not. There weren't many people at the show at all
unfortunately.

I caught the whole set by Scrapes. They were interesting. They have
the Irish thing going on but not full bore and they use it with humor. In the
song Sham Rock (the title alone shows the humor) they sing "We're from
Boston and I don't have a kilt, and our Four Leaf clover is beginning to wilt."
Another great title: Still Kiltless after all these Beahs. Walter
Gustafson ex of Outlets, Gang Green etc is on drums. The lead singer
is distinctive. He has his own style on stage and wore his purple tie with confidence....Not
easy. The songs were memorable and the whole set was very entertaining. I would
like to see these guys again.

The Dot Rats are all about being "Dot Rats" they will tell
you more than a few times they are from Dorchester and proud. That's what they
sing about. I love that they took their situation and built their songs and
show about it. They do deliver. When they sing Triple Decka and start
yelling about the guy walking down their street twice already and..."why
are you walking down our f'n street?"...well, they sound like the dagger
is coming out. High drama and effective. That amped up angst surfaced time and
again and drives the set.

They like old school rap and have two lead singers like that
genre. It works for them. One singer did several speaker jumps any one of which
could have been an injury. Unlike other groups Dot Rats recordings do capture
their punch. The Bandcamp recording are demos but are as good as any final product
in my book. Quincy had the 4th
Annual Hardcore Cotillion at Presidents Rock Club a few weeks ago now this.
I'm hoping for more shows like this but more people have to show up.

Saturday afternoon Miss Lyn headed over to the Q Division Yard Sale
with Kim Ackland to check out the wares. There was lots of stuff! Mostly
musical equipment but also tons of music books, posters, T Shirts, records,
CD and videos. Jenny Dee was there selling vintage clothes and Jewelry
as well as some locals CDs like Roy
Sludge's Too Drunk to Truck. Also there with tables were Bret Milano,
Rick Harte, Skinny Mike (Coffin Lids & Mike's
Monster Guitars) Dave "Mire" (formerly of Muck and The
Mires, with LOADS of fanatical collectibles!), and Andrea Gillis (and
hubby Mark Minansky) with a table of Gilly's Tomato Soup cake slices
for free (and they were delish)! Andrea is a multitalented person, besides
be a singer and a painter, she is also a pastry chef and is now putting together
"Gilly's" so she can sell her tomato soup cake and other throwback
snacks. Look out for more on that in the future. Need Party snacks anyone??

Sunday Mike Stewart (Crash Course for the Ravers) invited Blowfish
to head to Salem State College station WMWM 91.7 FM to spread the
punk gospel on the Talk of the Town show. It was a lively discussion
on this truly free form radio show. Music is very eclectic and topics are open
to everything. They stream on the web but do not archive the shows, you have
to listen in real time. Mike is going to bring his gossip/news show up there
on a regular basis along with it being on WMFO.

Sunday evening Miss Lyn headed over to Sally O'Brien's to catch Randy
Black and The Heathcroppers for a special Randy Black birthday show. Trusty
Sidekick and The Natalie Flanagan Band were also on the bill. (we
had to leave after Randy's set). There's no cover for these Sunday night gigs,
that's cool. But unfortunately Sally O's is a small place and the crowd keeps
talking through the sets. The noise level was high which kind of tarnished the
experience a bit. But Randy, Matt and Larry came across with a particularly
stellar set. Matt Burns let out a "Phew, they are good tonight!" after
the set it was so good. In case you haven't gotten a copy of Sky Goes Clear
you can get
one here my friends!

Cal Cali and Matt Burns were also in the crowd,
as was Kenne Highland. You'll read about this show in the Kenne
Highland at Large column next week ...this week he talks about horse races,
his dentist, Bob Mould, Pere Ubu in 1977, alien abduction, Johnny Sciasha, Lookie-Lookie,
and his upcoming Gizmos World Tour among many other things!!

The Real Kids CDShake...outta control is about to be released,
Rick Harte says it should be in about 2 or 3 weeks. We got one of two
advanced copies and Blowfish
reviews it here.....

The Pixies recorded 6 songs live for
Spotify if you have that. Really good too.

Mr. Curt Ensemble/MC3/MC4 has decided to become a new entity. After
the recent departure of Clara Kebabian, the vibrant entrance of Geoff Pango
has entreated the group to adopt a new moniker! Now called Fun Era Fifty,
this is adult, acoustic, rockin' pop that reaches back to a golden age of classic
artists and zooms forward to capture contemporary attitudes & sounds. New songs
& refurbished older tunes are flowing effortlessly from their wide-open mouths
& magic fingers. Positive - upbeat - energetic music of the Here & Now. Live
performances are being set up and they can't wait to unleash the Power of Poptimism
upon the world.

Previously we mentioned that punk movie that was casting...The folks at
Ungovernable Films have now started a Kickstarter page to fund the film
An
Ungovernable Force so far they do have some interesting people in the cast:
my pal Nick Cash (999), also Steve Ignorant (CRASS), Shend (The Cravats),
Steve Lake (Zounds), Zillah Minx (Rubella Ballet), Mensi (Angelic Upstarts)...as
well as Merle Allin of The Murder Junkies Apache Ramos from The Warriors
(best movie evah) and WMFO DJ Brian Young. Even if you dont want to contribute
$$ go to the Kickstarter
page for a fun read!!

Thursday May 29th at Red Star Union is When Particles Collide,
The Self-Employed Assassins and Sara Rabdau

Also on May 29th is the On The Town with Mikey Dee 25th Anniversary
show at TT's. Playing will be The Unholy III, The Rationales, The
Wrong Shapes, Corin Ashley & friends and Butterknife. Get
your tix now!

Watts are opening again for Cheap Trick at the Hampton Beach
Casino on June 5.

Saturday June 7th Brian Young and Crash
Course for the Ravers on WMFO 91.5 (1-4PM) is having LiteHouse live
in the studio- tune in for that.

Saturday June 7th Paul Robinson and Patti Moore are putting on
a benefit for Autism and the organization Surfers
Healing. Its at The Dog Bar in Gloucester and playing will be, from New
York, Drive aka Talk Of The Town, Funbucket, Inge Berge, Girl On Top, Cripple
Cove Quartet, and more TBA. This is a daytime show, Noon - 6PM More
info here.

Thursday June 12th at Church is a Boston Hassle sponsored
event with some low key noise bands Ed Schrader's Music Beat presents The
Abominable Skimask, Gondoliers, (New England) Patriots

Gizmos World Tour ...Thurs-Sat,
June 12, 13 & 14.....Here's their Kickstarter
page (they could still use some $$ folks)....this Gizmos is the original
Gizmos plus some guests: Kenne Highland, Eddie Flowers, Ted Niemiec
and Rich Coffee with Max Demata bass from Sonic Daze, John
Terrill drums from Dancing Cigarettes and Ian Brewer guitar
from the Panics....

Thursday June
12 at The Bishop (Bloomington, IN) its the very first Gizmos reunion
gig with Indiana Scuzz Punk bands: Apache Dropout, Deezen, and Cowboys,
sharing the bill....

and it looks like John Felice definitely IS doing well...The Real
Kids are at The Middle East down on Saturday June 14th with
Lyres, Classic Ruins and Cadillac Heart!!

see more Church gigs....June 20thThe Welsh Boys, Sprained
Ankles, Guns of Brighton and The Blue Bloods.

Also on Friday, June 20th Triple Thick celebrates 15 Years of Triple
Thick at The Plough and Stars!! Well we're happy they are still around.
So Triple Thick and The Monsieurs will be playing.

June 21st Muck & The Mires are at The Plough.

Also on June 21st at The Midway there's a special Roy Sludge
Revue (featuring Frankie Blandino, Lyle Brewer, Stan The Man
Kozlowski, and Johnny Sciascia!!!) , Eric Royers One Man
Band along with Easy Eds Record Hop.

At The Tavern at the End of the World there's a "welcome Back party"
for Michelle Johnson-Kish on the bill will be Rockin' Bob kicking things
off followed by Dots on Dice, The Dirty Truckers and Jay Allen and
The Archcriminals

Ken Scales says : Adventure Set will be at Bill's Bar
on Thursday June 26TH....with very special guests Casey Desmond
& Cemetery Girl also....Adventure Set's new 4 song EP "GAZEBO"
will be out in June 2014.

Always promising an interesting experience Walter Sickert & the Army
of Broken Toys (12AM) are at TT's along with Parlour Bells,
Muy Cansado and Future Carnivores on Friday June 27th

July 15th has FuzzStompin' GarageSoul with Thee Legendary Rockin'
Prophets at O'Brien's.

Friday July 25th has a great show at Great Scott's with Razors
In The Night (Record Release Party! & we're happy to see they are out
and about again!), Panzerbastard, The Blue Bloods, and Taxi Driver

And here's some big news Terry Brenner's bringing The Real Kids and
Nervous Eaters and Greg Allen's Fringe Religion to The Spotlight
Tavern in Beverly on August 2, that's a Saturday night !!! Thank
you Terry!!

It's Hixxmas in August folks! On August 23rd at Club Bohemia
at The Cantab it's Hixx and Psychic Dog and more bands TBA...

In August John Lydon hits Boston in a huge production of
Jesus Christ SuperStar , he's playing King Herod...man I want to see that
show!!

Cal Cali is putting together a late summer show with Lyres--Nervous
Eaters--Cal Cali Band-Les Envahisseurs (The Invaders) from
Quebec~~~~~~~~~~~ more details soon !

We finally get to see Dave Minehan with The Replacements since
they are on the bill for the Boston
Calling Show in September (5,6 & 7) later this year!

Saturday September 13th is Matt Burns' 60th Birthday Party! He's
celebrating at The Lizard Lounge. So far the bill includes Litehouse,
The Handymen, Kenne Highland, and more bands to come.....

The 2nd Annual Rat Beach Party is already well in the planning stages...its
set for September 14th& 15th and here's a list of bands so far: Saturday
night- Red Parrot Beach Bar starting at 7PM: Hardwired -- Heavy Weddle & Sweet
Release -- Severance (or Band To Be Announced) -- JetSet -- Billy Rath & The
Street Pirates -- Open Jam to close